China's Lunar Calendar 2019 08-11

Click here for the introduction to the Round and Square series "Calendars and Almanacs" 

⇦⇦⇦⇦⇦ From right to left: ⇦⇦⇦⇦
8/12................................................................................................................8/6

This is one in a never-ending series—following the movements of the calendar—in Round and Square perpetuity. It is today's date in the Chinese lunar-solar (or "luni-solar" calendar; I call it the "lunar" calendar in order to distinguish it from the kinds of calendars most Westerners use. It has a basic translation and minimal interpretation. Unless you have been studying calendars (and Chinese culture) for many years, you will likely find yourself asking "what does that mean?" I would caution that "it" doesn't "mean" any one thing. There are clusters of meaning, and they require patience, reflection, careful reading, and, well, a little bit of ethnographic fieldwork. The best place to start is the introduction to "Calendars and Almanacs" on this blog. I teach a semester-long course on this topic and, trust me, it takes a little bit of time to get used to the lunar calendar. Some of the material is readily accessible; some of it is impenetrable, even after many years.

As time goes on, I will link all of the sections to lengthy background essays. This will take a while. In the meantime, take a look, read the introduction, and think about all of the questions that emerge from even a quick look at the calendar. You will likely find that several of the translations seem quite "fanciful" in English. I am simply trying to convey that they also sound fairly fanciful in Chinese.

Section One

Solar Calendar Date
十
一

日期星

Eighth Month, Eleventh Day 
Sunday, August 11

————

Beneficent Stars 

(top to bottom, right to left)

天德歲
喜日支
Generational Branch
Exemplary Days
Heavenly Happiness

Section Three
Auspicious Hours
(top to bottom, right to left) 
申辰子
中吉凶
酉巳丑
中凶吉
戌午寅
凶吉凶

亥未卯
吉吉中

23:00-01:00 Inauspicious
01:00-03:00 Auspicious
03:00-05:00 Inauspicious
05:00-07:00 In-Between

07:00-09:00 Auspicious
9:00-11:00 Inauspicious
11:00-13:00 Auspicious
13:00-15:00 Auspicious

15:00-17:00 In-Between
17:00-19:00 In-Between
19:00-21:00 Inauspicious
21:00-23:00 Auspicious

 ————

Section Four 
Activities to Avoid  
(top-to-bottom; right to left) 

忌
成除結
服靈網

Binding Nets
Exorcising Spirits
Completing Clothing

 
Section Five 
Cosmological Information

十
一
庚
辰
金
虛
成

Eleventh Day (Seventh Lunar Month)

Cyclical day: gengchen (17/60)

Phase (element): Metal
"Constellation Personality" Cycle: Void (11/28)
"Day Personality" Cycle: Completion (9/12)

————

Section Six

Appropriate Activities

and Miscellaneous Information  

(top-to-bottom; right to left)
宜

上納祭
樑采祀
安開會
牀市友
栽動訂
種土婚
喪重
復血月
日忌厭

 ————

Appropriate Activities

Venerating Ancestors
Meeting Friends
Marriage Engagements
Grain Payments
Opening Markets

Moving Soil

Raising Beams

Positioning Beds

Planting and Cultivating

Repeat Mourning

Baleful Astral Influences

Lunar Repression
Blood Taboo
Repeated Days

Section Seven
白 地

White, Earth

 ————

Section Eight
Miscellaneous Activities

碓

栖 磨

Pestle
Perch, Mortar